there is new word that president assad may be losing his biggest ally. we know that hillary clinton met yesterday with the foreign minister from russia and conor powell is live on the story for us in the middle east bureau in jerusalem. are they starting to shift what has been a very strong alliance away from syria? >> reporter: well, martha, russia along with iran have been the biggest backers of the assad regime. russia sent weapons to the syrian government. they protected the syrian government in the u.n. that does appear it could be changing. secretary of state hillary clinton met with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov yesterday in dublin and officials described it as a good meeting, a positive meeting. there seemed to be a an air of compromise in this meeting. past meetings have been hostile with very negative, with little done. both sides yelling at each other, arguing with each other. according to officials this past meeting seemed to be much more constructive. there seemed to be effort to find common ground. where that will actually lead in